Ron Wyden: “I am pleased to see what is the first formal statement of the administration saying that the Senate bill is the way to…”

“I am pleased to see what is the first formal statement of the administration saying that the Senate bill is the way to go. It is an acknowledgment of the fact that a number of us said we cannot have this compromise unravel, and it is a constructive statement from the administration today. I commend them for it. In addition to Senator Craig, who has worked with me on this for literally 5 years, Senator Smith and I cannot go anywhere in our home State without people asking, when is the Senate going to respond to this? I thank him for his efforts, as well as those of Senator Crapo, who is in the Chamber. I see Senator Bingaman, who has been so helpful to me as I have had to wrestle with these issues that come up in my home State day after day. We have not agreed on every single bit of this debate for 5 years, but Senator Bingaman has performed an extraordinarily important service. He has some ideas on a matter that has been documented in our hearings with respect to how these funds get moved around, almost manipulated, from one account to another when there is underfunding of the thinning work that needs to be done. I thank him for all of his help over the last 5 years.”